Development of machine smoking parameters for measurement of cigarette tar yield in the United Kingdom

The smoking and analytical methods used by government and tobacco industry laboratories are the result of many years of collaborative work within the industry and through international bodies such as the International Standards Organization. Recently, some publications have criticized the validity and scientific soundness of these procedures. It is shown that such criticisms are totally unfounded by reviewing the work that led to the adoption of the current technique. Tar tables, published by the UK Health Departments are valid in ranking brands in order of their yields, while not necessarily reflecting the absolute tar delivery to the smoker. These tables are intended to and do provide a relevant guide for smokers about the proportional tar yields of UK cigarettes.